Category Archives: Sides

Get ready to slap ya mama after you make up this delicious and easy fried okra! You won’t want to slap her, but you just don’t have a choice…it’s that dang good! Fried okra is one of my husband’s ultimate favorite foods, but I wouldn’t ever make it because of the hassle of frying food indoors in a saucepan. What with all the trouble of getting your oil to the right temperature and keeping it there the whole time, not to mention trying to clean up all the grease spatter afterwards. It’s enough to give a clean freak a serious eye twitch. Yes, my eye twitches like a crazy person in the cartoons when I get stressed out about something.

Enter the Fry Daddy. Backstory time: My parents put in a garden at their place and one of the things they planted were okra plants. Now I thought okra plants were maybe a foot tall and gave you very limited crops. Um, no. Not at all. Or else my dad is a genius horticulturist. Their plants are no joke at least 6 feet tall and they get a full crop every four days filling a 5 gallon bucket at least halfway up every time. So, naturally my parents have been generously sharing their abundant supply of okra with us.

While we were there my mom made us some fried okra to go with our dinner in her little Fry Daddy deep fryer. I was hooked. I have always wanted to buy a deep fryer but I never did take the plunge. After seeing that little guy in action though I hopped right over to Amazon and ordered my own! Tyler is thrilled and we now have fried okra on the menu pretty regularly. And to think I was only going to throw that okra in my gumbo!

Preheat oven to warm setting or to the lowest temperature your oven will go to. Prepare a cookie sheet with 3 to 4 sheets of paper towels.

Begin heating the oil in your fryer. The amount used varies from model to model, but mine has a fill line to make it easier to measure.

In a medium bowl toss heavy cream and sliced okra together and let soak for at least 10 minutes.

In a gallon ziplock bag mix corn meal and Cajun seasoning together. Pour the saturated okra into the bag, seal, and shake it up making sure the okra is well coated.

Add okra in small batches to the fryer. Cook for approximately 2-3 minutes, or until well browned. Drain on cookie sheet with paper towels and salt generously. Leave cooked okra in the oven to maintain freshness. It tastes like you just pulled it out of the fryer when you do this!

Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

If you have leftovers heating them up is a cinch! Turn your oven's broiler to high and heat fried okra in the microwave for 30 seconds, just to warm through. Spread okra evenly on a cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes, checking constantly and turning to achieve even crunchiness. Voila! They taste just like you pulled them out of the fryer!

Guys you just have to try this recipe out. It’s legit. In fact it’s too legit. It’s too legit to quit. Ok, enough Hot Rod ramblings, I was so excited when I made this for the first time because I have never quite been able to get that authentic tasting Mexican rice from homemade recipes. This is my go to staple for any Mexican dishes that I make.

A huge plus to this is that my kids will actually eat it! *gasp* I can’t cook anything for them. I can only get them to eat some nights by threatening their very lives (which has proven effective if you needed some parenting advice) but they ask for this rice and they devour it when I give them a bowl. I will cook anything they like multiple times a day if that’s what it takes for them to eat willingly. Lemme tell ya, forcing belligerent stubborn kids to eat something under threat of death is exhausting and time consuming.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add rice and gently stir until rice begins to lightly brown.

Add the garlic, salt, and cumin and stir until the rice is golden brown.

Add the tomato sauce and chicken broth. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. After it is boiling reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Top with the cilantro.